IndyCar Series driver Oliver Askew is OK but, understandably, a bit “shaken up” after slamming into the inside wall at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The rookie in his No. 7 Chevrolet was having a great Indianapolis 500 and even led laps at one point. But a caution sparked by Conor Daly just before the halfway point in the race led to a disaster for Askew.
As the 104th Indy 500 field restarted on Lap 92 of 200 after a caution flag, Daly lost control of his No. 47 Chevrolet and spun out. While he appeared to eventually gain control of the car and not his the inside wall, Askew looked like he was trying to avoid the could of smoke created by Daly’s spin and wasn’t so lucky.
Askew smashed into the SAFER barrier on the inside wall, bounced off it and ultimately did make contact with Daly’s car. Daly got out of the car himself fairly quickly, but it took Askew a moment to climb out.
Afterward, both Askew and Daly were evaluated and cleared by the infield medical center.
Speaking to NBC Sports, Askew explained his perspective of the accident. He said he saw Daly spinning and attempted to avoid the chaos before falling right into it. He said:
“I’m OK, but I was a little shaken up after that hit. I think I got the wind knocked out of me and banged up my knee a little bit. But I do want to say thank you to Dallara and IndyCar for making these cars so safe. and to our safety crew as well. A little shaken up by that, but a big sorry to the team. We were having a good run there being very aggressive on strategy, and the car felt really good.
“And the accident there, I saw a bunch of smoke in front of me, and I think I tried to avoid Hélio [Castroneves] and just lost the car and tried to avoid the accident. So it’s a shame.”
At first, Daly said he wasn’t “entirely sure” what happened on the restart. He told NBC Sports:
“It’s like my left front tire fell into a hole or something, so I’m just not really sure why that happened. That’s never happened before. Just very strange. … I thought I almost had it.”
But then Daly saw a replay of the incident and said it was “probably [his] mistake,” adding: “It looks like I just caught the curb, which is probably on me.”
